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With the iPhone now onto its seventh incarnation and great new Android smartphones launching regularly, there are more cycling apps than ever — ranging from highly analytical training tools to simpler social apps and useful navigational resources.

For some — Google Maps, for instance — you’ll need to have your device on the handlebars to take full advantage. For others, like Strava, you can just press Start, put your phone in your jersey pocket, and go.

Here are our picks of the nine best Android and iPhone apps for cycling. Some are free, some are not, and some are free up front with an option to buy more bells and whistles. Fair warning: any GPS-based app will tax your phone's battery, so these are generally better suited to shorter rides.

Updated December 2016

Wahoo Fitness

Wahoo Fitness isn't pretty, but there is a ton of data that can be easily directed where you want it to go

Perhaps the biggest draw of this app is the fact that it plays nicely with others. It pairs easily with Bluetooth sensors like heart-rate monitors, speed sensors and progressive power meters such as Stages. (With a Wahoo Key plugin you can pair with ANT+ sensors, too.)

In a world where many companies defensively guard your data in their various ecosystems, Wahoo Fitness uploads to all the good sites — Strava, MapMyFitness, TrainingPeaks, MyFitnessPal — and, if you like, can push your data in your choice of five file formats via email or Dropbox. If you’re an engineer, or just a data hound, you’ll love the number-heavy presentation of the app, too, with eight customizable pages of data on speed, power, heart rate and more. Plus, there’s a GPS map — though it burns through the battery pretty quickly.

Cyclemeter

Cyclemeter is impressively easy to use considering its breadth of features

Cyclemeter turns your iPhone into a great cycling computer — if you’re down for putting your iPhone on your handlebars. It is similar to Wahoo Fitness in its wealth of customisable options during the ride, but you also get a smorgasbord of post-ride analysis. Plus, you don’t have to log in to any site; the data stays on your iPhone.

You can start/stop rides with your iPhone earphone remote button, and integrated Google Maps can assist you in unfamiliar areas. Want to compete against a prior time on a course? You can do that. Want to configure audio alerts for time, heart rate, distance or other variables? No problem. Want to set up a training program with intervals, power and heart-rate zones and online calendar integration? Yep, you can do that too.

Cyclemeter also plays nice with Strava, Facebook, Twitter and more, and importing and exporting routes is easy.

Google Maps

While you wouldn't want to use it for a long ride, Google Maps' combination of Google search plus touchscreen, bike-specific navigation is excellent

Apple has done some amazing things, but it can't beat Google at mapping. The latest Google Maps app is the world’s best navigation tool for your phone. Just like you use your phone on the fly to find places, read a few reviews and then go to the one you select, you can use Google Maps to do so too — and get there on bike paths and bike-friendly routes.

Like any app, it’s not perfect or magic, but in its category, it is the best there is. The audio turn-by-turn instructions are nice when riding, too; for riders who choose to ride with headphones, you can have your phone in your pocket and easily get where you need to go.

Map My Ride

Map My Ride does exactly what it says — now in real time

MapMyRide is similar to CycleMeter, but it benefits from the parent company’s online history with route mapping software. The app is better equipped for tracking not only rides but your nutrition, weight and more, but it can also get you where you need to go.

The app works with any Bluetooth Smart sensor (and ANT+ sensors with a plug-in), and it offers a competitive option for popular routes.

The premium version gets you training plans, more advanced routing options and live tracking you can share with family and friends. Also, and perhaps equally important, the premium version ditches the advertisements you’re stuck with on the free app.

Strava

Strava's ace in the hole is its social component. Many riders use a Garmin for recording and uploading rides to Strava — and then use the app for checking out what their friends are up to

While you can use Strava like a cycle computer on your phone, most riders use a Garmin to record and upload their rides and then use the app to see what their friends are up to. All rides uploaded to Strava deliver automatic rankings of your times over popular stretches of road and trail, with a GPS map of where you rode.

The premium edition facilitates decent post-ride analysis, too, with the ability to map out future rides and get real-time feedback. The real-time feature, which tells you how fast you are tracking on a selected segment like the local hard climb, works on smartphones but also newer Garmin Edge computers, too.

Strava’s special sauce is the social component. Much like Facebook, you can follow your friends and see where and how hard they’re riding, leave comments and give kudos on their rides, and post photos with your own rides.

Viewranger

Viewranger is great for mountain biking

While Google Maps is great for roadies or finding your way to the trails, this mapping app is really useful for mountain bikers who enjoy a bit of exploring. It’s free to download and comes with a very usable and free OpenCycle base map of the entire world, so you’re able to free yourself from ‘navigational uncertainty’ whenever the need arises.

In addition to that, you can buy super detailed large scale topographical mapping for over 20 countries around the world. The maps are stored on your phone and it uses your phone’s GPS, so it doesn’t need a signal or data connection to work.

You can create and share your own routes in app and also download other people’s tracks or just explore the riding around you. There’s even a live tracking ‘Buddy Beacon’ function that allows you to share your ride with your adoring public or just selected friends, as well as seeing who’s around you.

First Aid by British Red Cross

We hope you never need the Red Cross app, but it's a handy thing to have in unfortunate situations

In a perfect world, you’d get very little use out of this app, but if the worst should happen on a ride it pays to be prepared. While it’s hard to beat going on a proper first aid course, this is probably the next best thing.

Using a range of videos, quizzes and step-by-step advice, it aims to help you learn how to deal with common first aid emergencies as well as being an invaluable reference when things go badly wrong. All of the information is stored on the phone, so it’ll work just fine when you don’t have a data connection too.

Bike Doctor

Bike Doctor visually walks you through the steps for common fixes

If you’re always the one that’s relying on mates to fix your bike or spending a small fortune every month in bike workshop charges, then this app could be the best £4 / $5 you’ve ever lavished on your hobby. It’s got step-by-step guides to help you through the most common mechanical maladies you’re likely to encounter.

Dirt School

Dirt School brings the outdoor classroom to your phone

Usually skills coaching requires a coach willing to share their skills, but UK-based Dirt School has decided to allow people further afield to benefit from their mountain bike skills training know-how for £5 / $7. You watch the video examples of certain skills being demonstrated and then record yourself attempting the same technique, allowing you to see the difference between the ideal execution and your efforts.

Each of the 11 fundamental techniques covered in the videos has written guidance about where to practice, what to do and look for as well as letting you know what getting it right or wrong will feel like. For an extra fee you can submit your videos to the Dirt School instructors for personal feedback and coaching too. No more excuses for not clearing that technical section now…

Bike Gear Calculator

Bike Gear Calculator sure isn't for everyone

Mechanically minded fettlers tend to love this app. Bike Gear Calculator does what it says on the tin, calculating speed and cadence figures from tweakable virtual drivetrains. Feed the app information on the tyre size, crank length and gear ratios of your bike and revel in the immense data this app will provide.

It's ideal for those who want to optimise their bike's gearing for their strength or riding style.

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Ben has been writing about bikes since 2000, covering everything from the Tour de France to Asian manufacturing to kids' bikes. The former editor-in-chief of VeloNews, he began racing in college while getting a journalism degree at the University of New Mexico. Based in the cycling-crazed city of Boulder, Colorado, with his wife and two kids, Ben enjoys riding most every day.